Decrease in loop diuretic treatment from 2005 to 2014 in Swedish real-life patients with chronic heart failure

PURPOSE: Loop diuretics are recommended to treat congestive symptoms in patients with heart failure. However, observational studies have indicated that loop diuretic treatment in heart failure is associated with increased mortality. Therefore, loop diuretic discontinuation or dose reduction, when clinically possible, is recommended. Our aim was to study nationwide temporal trends in loop diuretic treatment from 2005 to 2014 in real-life patients with chronic heart failure. METHODS: Data from the nationwide Swedish National Patient, Prescribed Drug and Cause of Death Registers were linked. The annual proportions of patients with chronic heart failure treated with loop diuretics from 2005 to 2014 were calculated. In addition, the annual median loop diuretic doses (DDD) in patients with chronic heart failure treated with loop diuretics from 2005 to 2014 were calculated. RESULTS: The proportion of real-life patients with chronic heart failure treated with loop diuretics decreased from 73.2% in 2005 to 65.7% in 2014 (p for trend < 0.001). The median loop diuretic DDD in real-life patients with chronic heart failure decreased from 2.13 (IQR 1.09–2.77) in 2005 to 1.63 (IQR 1.09–2.25) in 2014 (p = 0.001 for trend). CONCLUSIONS: Loop diuretic treatment decreased from 2005 to 2014 in real-life patients with chronic heart failure. The prognostic impact of changes in loop diuretic treatment in patients with heart failure remains unclear. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00228-018-2574-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.